Wikileaks: Soludo Disappointed in Yar’Adua’s leadership; AGF Aondoakaa “Worst” Minister
Posted: September 9, 2011 - 03:36




Charles Soludo

By SaharaReporters, New York
As Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Professor Charles   Soludo seemed to have been a target difficult for the American Ambassador in Nigeria, Ms. Robin Sanders, by her own admission.  He did not seem to sit still long enough, or to be willing to open his mouth.

[size=18pt]But in December 2008, one and half years after ailing Nigerian ruler Umaru Yar’Adua assumed office, Soludo finally caved in and, for some reason, invited her to a “private briefing” he had organized for local journalists.  The briefing led to a luncheon between the bank boss and the ambassador. [/size]

[size=18pt]Once prodded, Soludo told Ambassador Sanders that he was highly disappointed in Yar’Adua’s leadership of Nigeria.  Not only was Yar'Adua "slow," he said, the man seemed unable to manage the "political forces around him such as the Attorney General, [Michael Aondoakaa]" who continually sought to undercut democratic principles.[/size]

The “reticent” and “elusive” CBN boss, apparently forgetting his act, [size=18pt]turned quite loquacious[/size].  He said he believed the anti-democratic forces around Yar’Adua wanted to maintain their power and influence on the government, and were giving Yar’Adua bad advice.
He identified one of such forces, Aondoakaa, as the "worst" person in the cabinet and the main culprit of misdeeds in the Yar'Adua administration.

But Soludo gave Yar'Adua credit for trying to do the right thing and being “seriously analytical” about what he wanted for Nigeria.

The CBN governor, who also served as chairman of the African Finance Corporation (AFC), connected his reading of Yar’Adua’s leadership style to the ongoing investigation of the AFC, calling it an attempt by Andoakaa to ensure that a northerner, someone he could control, became CBN Governor.

[size=15pt]He told Ambassador Sanders that Andoakaa was unable to control the CBN under his leadership, and therefore wanted him out in favour of someone “he not only could manipulate, but would also allow him to use the CBN as his personal bank.”[/size]

In April 2008, it would be recalled, the federal government set up a committee to investigate the AFC, with particular attention to the CBN’s role in its formation, funding, and operation.   Contrary to the rules governing the AFC, Soludo had maintained its chairmanship in his personal capacity.  Among other things, the committee recovered the CBN investment of over $462 million [$480 million was specified in the committee’s mandate] and placed it in an interest-yielding account in JP Morgan Chase Bank, New York pending the federal government’s determination of its continued participation in the AFC.

The panel also recommended that AFC President and Chief Executive Officer, Austine Ometoruwa, and one Isaac Sam, should be investigated by the EFCC for money laundering and round-tripping. It said that Soludo and Ometoruwa were to help the government recover the $11 million interest which accrued to CBN's investment in the AFC.

Reflecting on the matter half a year later, Soludo told Ambassador Sanders that no wrong doing had been found and that the $480 million that was placed in escrow during the investigation [as opposed to the $462 million the investigating committee said was invested by the CBN] was being reinvested in the international financial sector.




With reference to the financial situation in the country, Soludo said Nigeria had weathered the global financial crisis because he had maintained the policy of not letting foreign banks own Nigerian banks, and also because 18 months earlier the country’s banking sector had gone through major overhauling, scrutiny and oversight.   [size=18pt]He bragged that the country's banking sector not only was "sound but also that no banks were failing, or about to fail."[/size]

At the “private briefing” preceding Soludo’s meeting with Ambassador Sanders, he told the journalists present he had called them because he had observed inaccurate press articles about Nigeria's banking sector, the state of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), and the role of the CBN.

But he then became defensive about himself, asserting that he was a well-respected economist and could easily return to his previous, more lucrative, life in the private sector as a renowned consultant. “Therefore why would he risk his reputation on anything like embezzling or misusing funds from the AFC, which was what [Aondoakaa] was accusing him of doing?”

The cable by the American ambassador included, at this point, the following note: “[Andoakaa] is known to try to steal anything that is not tied down, and there seems to be no end to his desire to amass personal wealth through illicit enrichment.”

Ms. Sanders asked Soludo, who was passed on from Obasanjo, whether he would stay on if asked to do so after the end of his term in May 2009. "Even if I did not want to stay on, but was asked to do so," Soludo said, "I would really have no choice. When one is offered something in government and it is turned down, it is viewed as unpatriotic and then the entire society makes you pay for it and people can become quite vicious."

According to the cable, Soludo told the ambassador he had just had a conversation with his family in London about this particular very issue, and that “they all were nervous for him, if in the end, he decided not to accept an offer to stay on as GCBN pass his five year term.”
Soludo did not tell the ambassador, who probably knew anyway, that his family lived in a huge mansion of such splendor he could not explain how he had come by such wealth.  Or that his actual dream was the governorship of Anambra State.

The CBN governor would soon leave the ambassador to jet our of the country, but apparently, there were associates or friends of his who kept talking.  The cable continued: [size=20pt]“There were others close to Soludo right after the lunch that noted -- in an almost casual manner -- that Yar'Adua transplanted kidney was failing and that other alternatives where underway such as testing whether Agricultural Minister Ruma's brother, Jahana, would be a match for Yar'Adua as Ruma himself had been. We have heard a lot about the possibility that Yar'Adua has lung cancer.”
[/size]
Months later, however, Soludo told Yar’Adua he was also going to be gunning for the Anambra State governorship, a race that—in competition with some of the richest and most ruthless people in the country, such as Andy Uba—was going to demand billions of Naira.

Not at the CBN or at any consultancy did the “well-respected economist” earn billions of Naira.

But as with his mansion in London, he has not explained how he found the lavish funds with which he paid for it.


http://saharareporters.com/news-page/wikileaks-soludo-disappointed-yar%E2%80%99adua%E2%80%99s-leadership-agf-aondoakaa-%E2%80%9Cworst%E2%80%9D-minister

“There were others close to Soludo right after the lunch that noted -- in an almost casual manner -- that Yar'Adua transplanted kidney was failing and that other alternatives where underway such as testing whether Agricultural Minister Ruma's brother, Jahana, would be a match for Yar'Adua as Ruma himself had been. We have heard a lot about the possibility that Yar'Adua has lung cancer.”

Did Sanders, abi na Bata, give these guys BJs?


How could she be so effective? Wow!

We should all bury our heads in shame.

¶10. (S)[size=15pt] It was a rare occasion for the GCBN to be that frank
and open. He is usually extremely cautious and reticent, and
very seldom provides his views on the politics of Nigeria or
other members of the cabinet.[/size] It was also clear that he was
very concerned about the short and medium term future of the
Yar'Adua administration, and was disappointed in the
President's leadership style and the direction of the
country. He was not optimistic that the political atmosphere
would change unless Yar'Adua made some real changes
concerning the people around him such as the AG.


http://wikileaks.org/cable/2008/11/08ABUJA2165.html

Why did he succumb?

Let Soludo explain where he got the money for the mansions and his politics, a brilliant man who had his head turned by politics.

fellow nlanders,take the pain and read up the wikileaks original post,it is either these Sahara report guys are out right crooks or the poster here cooked the whole stuff, the above has been distorted